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Travel restrictions remain essential to reduce the risk of spreading COVID-19 from areas of high to low prevalence. We have reviewed the travel restrictions in place between Scotland and the rest of the Common Travel Area and concluded that the current restrictions should remain in place and that therefore people should not travel without a reasonable excuse between Scotland and England, Northern Ireland, Wales, Jersey and County Donegal in the Republic of Ireland. Further information on these travel restrictions can be found at Coronavirus (COVID-19):
guidance on travel and transport - gov.scot (www.gov.scot) .’

The Scottish Government has asked the Scottish National Blood Transfusion Service (SNBTS) to start preparing to make changes to the questions blood donors are asked in order to move to a more individualised assessment of whether donors may be at risk of a blood-borne virus infection, regardless of their sex, gender or sexual orientation. The changes will ensure a fairer and more up to date assessment of risk is applied to all donors; and men will no longer be automatically deferred from donating blood if they have had sex with another man in the past three months.

These changes will adopt the recommendations of the UK-wide For Assessment of Individualised Risk (FAIR) steering group. The Advisory Committee on the Safety of Blood, Tissues and Organs (SaBTO) reviewed the proposals outlined by the group and confirmed they would not impact on the safe supply of blood and blood components for recipients in the UK. SNBTS will work with the other UK blood services to make preparations and raise awareness with donors and potential donors about the changes. It expects to implement these changes by summer 2021.

We have reviewed the border health measures closely over the last three weeks and have assessed that there continues to be a requirement for the regulations to remain in place to reduce the risk of imported transmission and safeguard public health in Scotland. We have considered sectoral exemptions from the requirement to self-isolate, and intend to introduce exemptions for TV production, performing arts professionals, and professional journalists. We continue to keep countries under review and where there is clear evidence we will not hesitate to make changes to our country specific exemptions list. We propose to review these regulations at least every 28 days going forward, with the next review to be completed by 11 January 2021.

We have been clear throughout this pandemic that interventions to reduce the transmission of COVID-19 must be proportionate to the public health benefits and take account of clinical advice. I am glad to confirm that, following agreement by the four nations CMO group and advice from the Chief Medical Officer, the period of isolation for close contacts of people who have tested positive for COVID-19, and for people arriving from countries not on the exemption list will reduce from 14 days to 10 days.

This change will come into effect on Monday 14 December and is an important step in ensuring that, where the clinical advice supports it, we can minimise the impact of measures taken to ensure that we reduce transmission of the virus and save lives.

I am pleased to confirm that the Inquiry will formally begin its work on 30 November 2020. The Inquiry setting up date marks the point at which I hand over full responsibility of the Inquiry to Lord Bracadale and the work of the Inquiry will commence.

One of the key elements to be completed was the appointment of assessors to support Lord Bracadale in his work. I am also pleased to announce today the appointment of two highly experienced individuals – Raju Bhatt and Michael Fuller. Both bring a wealth of knowledge to the role and I am confident they will bring diversity, balance and vital experience to support Lord Bracadale during the Inquiry.

The current, agreed, remit for the Review already covers assessment and qualifications. However, as part of the suite of work I announced following the 2020 SQA exam results, I asked the OECD to expand this work to have a deeper focus on the future of assessment and qualifications approaches in the Senior Phase curriculum in Scotland. The aim of this is to analyse Scotland’s approach to assessment and qualifications and develop options to enhance our approach, informed by international good practice.

Officials have been working with the OECD to scope the additional work on assessment and qualifications, and we have agreed with the OECD that this work will involve:

• Employing an additional international expert to undertake a desk-based analysis of Scotland’s approaches to student assessment in relation to national qualifications in the Senior Phase in comparison with approaches in other education systems. The comparative analysis will consider education systems that are relevant to Scotland’s experience and objectives in education.

• A second seminar with stakeholders (in addition to that planned for the wider Review) to present and discuss the preliminary findings from the desk-based analysis; and to gather stakeholders’ feedback and suggestions on how to move forward.

• The production of a comparative paper building on the desk-based analysis and stakeholder engagement seminar and provides a set of options for Scotland to consider.

This work will be aligned with the current OECD Review of the implementation of Curriculum for Excellence, and the final comparative paper will be published later in the summer 2021, following the publication of the CfE Review Report in June 2021.

I have also written to the Convenor of the Education and Skills Committee to update them on this work.

We have reviewed the border health measures closely over the last three weeks and have assessed that there remains a requirement for them to remain in place to reduce the risk of imported transmission and safeguard health. We continue to keep countries under review and where there is clear evidence we will not hesitate to make changes to our country specific exemptions list.

We have reviewed the border health measures closely over the last three weeks and have assessed that there remains a requirement for them to remain in place to reduce the risk of imported transmission and safeguard health.

The role of the INWO will be implemented with effect from 1 April 2021. This new role, which is the first of its kind in the UK, will provide a mechanism for external review of how a Health Board, primary care or independent provider has handled a whistleblowing case.

The role was originally due to go-live in Summer 2020 but this was revised in view of the current pandemic and in consultation with the Scottish Public Sector Ombudsmen. We have continued to engage with the SPSO and we have balanced the need to timeously deliver the commitment of the INWO whistleblowing measure with the need for our Health Service to prepare for its implementation, particularly in view of the remobilisation plans, the ongoing pandemic and winter pressures.

The Public Services Reform (The Scottish Public Services Ombudsman) (Healthcare Whistleblowing) Order 2020 extends the powers of the SPSO, to take on the role of the INWO. These powers also allow the SPSO to set a ‘model procedure’ for handling whistleblowing concerns raised by staff and others delivering NHS services. The Standards have been developed by the SPSO who engaged closely with key stakeholders from the NHS, Scottish Government, whistleblowing specialists as well as whistleblowers.

The Standards will be formally published when the INWO goes live on 1 April 2021. For NHSScotland staff, these will form the ‘Once for Scotland’ Whistleblowing Policy that will go-live at the same time. In view of the legislative requirements that Health Boards will need to prepare for there will be an implementation period of 3 months, supported by SPSO in advance of the INWO go live date.

SPSO and Scottish Government continue to liaise with stakeholders to prepare for implementation.

Until 1 April 2021, the current processes and procedures remain in place and both the Scottish Government and SPSO will be working on communications to ensure this is understood.